San Diego, which traditionally has been a popular choice for organizations planning their annual gatherings, has moved up a notch in a national ranking of top meeting destinations.

Among 5,700 cities tracked by a national event management software firm, San Diego emerged as the fifth most active city for group meetings, outranking New York City, Washington, D.C. and Dallas.

Figuring into the ranking criteria were the number of hotel room nights booked for meetings, as well as inquiries made to individual hotels and convention venues.

"Our customers sent over in the last year 1.2 million requests for meetings, which represents just under $5 billion in meetings, so we feel we have enough data to be representative of what’s happening in the market," said Eric Eden, vice president of marketing for Cvent, which this month released its annual list of the top 50 meeting destination cities. "The (requests) are step one for meeting planners to decide where they want to have their meeting, so it's interesting for them to see which cities are having the most meetings and conferences."

Top 10 group meeting destinations

Orlando

Chicago

Las Vegas

Atlanta

San Diego

New York, NY

Washington, D.C.

Dallas

Miami

Phoenix

Last year, San Diego's ranking was No. 6, and Chicago, which came in at No. 2 this year, was 5th in 2012, Cvent reported. It's not surprising, Eden said, that San Diego sustains its high ranking, given the city's general appeal, large convention center and more than 100 hotels that cater to group meetings.

"The changes we typically see are when there's investment in new hotels or communities build new centers," Eden said. "Washington, D.C., for example, is investing $950 million in a new city center project that includes a convention hotel, retail, restaurants and updates to the center that will definitely attract more planners to come there.

"We did our own conference at the Peabody Orlando (hotel) because they had just done a massive $450 million renovation."

Joe Terzi,who heads San Diego's Tourism Authority, said he's pleased to see the city move up in its ranking, but acknowledged it's unlikely that San Diego will ever nab a No. 1 or 2 spot, given the heavyweight competition.

"We’ve always been close to the top five, and that’s where we should stay," he said. "It’s always going to be Chicago, Orlando, Las Vegas at the top. We just don’t have the hotel inventory that these other cities have for citywide conventions."